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Blumea balsamifera(sambong)
A Phytochemical and Pharmacological Review
Sambong (Blumea balsamifera) is a native flowering or weed that is endemic in the Philippines and other tropical countries. It is a popular herb especially for its healing properties including antidiarrhetic, antigastralgic, expectorant, stomachic, and antispasmodic, among others. Aside from these, sambong is also popular for being emmenagogues, or for stimulating menstruation or the blood flow in the pelvic area and uterus. As cure for menstrual cramps, the sambong leaves are boiled to create a sambong tea, which is then consumed by the patient. Aside from easing the painful cramps by facilitating menstruation, sambong also helps in cleaning the kidneys. The plant is actually especially known as a natural cleansing herb. Since the plant is emmenagogues, drinking the sambong tea is not advisable to pregnant women as well as women who wanted to be pregnant. Moreover, drinking sambong should also be regulated because it also has hallucinogenic effects when excessively consumed
Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC. (Asteraceae), also known as sambong, has been used as medicine for thousands of years in Southeast Asia countries, such as China, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Philippines. Sambong is the most important member of the genus Blumea and is an indigenous herb oftropical and subtropical Asia, especially in China. This plant grows on forest edges, under forests, riverbeds, valleys and grasses [4,5]. In China, it is generally a common used herb in the areas south of theYangtze River, such as Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Guangdong provinces and Taiwan [6–8].B. balsamifera is commonly called “Ainaxiang” and “Dafeng’ai” in Chinese and used as incensebecause it has a high level of essential oils [9]. It was originally recorded in “Bei Ji Qian Jin YaoFang” in 652 by Sun Simiao. The whole plant or its leaves were used as a crude Chinese traditional medicinal material to